Refugees have lived in Nakivale settlement since 1958. Despite water and food shortages, there are opportunities for casual work.
Photograph: Anna Patton

When they fled to Kampala from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in February 2008, Robert Hakiza’s family had food for two months. “The third month was a disaster,” he says. By May, though, his mother and two sisters were out making money. “My sister started selling necklaces,” he says. “At one point, she was keeping the entire family of eight.”

Uganda is one of the best places to stay for refugees

Eight years on, the organisation Hakiza founded, Young African Refugees for Integral Development, employs 16 staff, comprising both refugees and Ugandans. Though his sisters dream of resettlement elsewhere, he is content. “Uganda is one of the best places to stay for refugees,” he says.

By 2015, Uganda had become the third largest refugee-hosting country in Africa, after Ethiopia and Kenya, with more than half a million refugees. That number is rising rapidly. Alongside ongoing crises in Burundi and DRC, violence in South Sudan has driven more refugees to Uganda during three weeks in July than in the first six months of 2016. The Danish Refugee Council warned last month the situation in northern Uganda could become “catastrophic” if they don’t receive more support for assisting the influx of refugees from South Sudan.

But these recent arrivals are among the lucky ones: Uganda is one of the most favourable environments in the world for refugees, according to the UNHCR. While many countries keep refugees in camps away from citizens, Uganda allows them to set up businesses, work for others, and move freely around the country.

Two tailors from Rwanda and Burundi work at Kityaza market in Nakivale refugee camp, where refugees have lived since 1958, Photograph: Anna Patton

The majority of refugees live in Uganda’s rural settlements, where they are allocated plots of land and given materials to build a basic home, as well as food aid and access to basic health and education services. But they are also free to build a life in Kampala – where 74,896 refugees and asylum seekers were registered as of May 2016 – as Patrick,* who arrived from Rwanda in 2009 did. Today, he owns a shop and three motorcycle taxis, and employs workers on his land.

Refugees in Uganda’s rural settlements are allocated plots of land and given materials to build a basic home – so that investment in infrastructure benefits locals too; they also receive food aid and access to primary schools and health services.

However, some other nationals in Uganda feel restricted by their refugee status. Although the authorities say people are free to come and go, Michael*, a Congolese artist who arrived in Nakivale settlement in 2010, says: “If someone doesn’t agree with you they can just stop you [from doing what you want].”

Sometimes the problem is unclear communication. Hakiza remembers brandishing a copy of the Refugee Act when he first went to register his organisation with the local authorities; they had had told him he wasn’t allowed.

Mimy Abeja, a Congolese single mother of 10, says Nakivale is “not a place to raise children”. She is relieved not to be paying rent, but struggles to keep her tailoring business afloat, adding that all of the family have been in and out of hospital since they arrived.

“Every day we wake up fighting because of our stomachs,” says 29-year-old Alex Bucunga, a filmmaker who arrived from DRC nine years ago, explaining that food rations are reduced significantly for those here longer than five years. Casual work helps fill the gaps: Bucunga has taught English, while others dig farmland, make bricks or work as translators. That’s rarely sufficient to start or grow a business — but Nsamizi, a training institute and responsible for livelihoods support in Nakivale, says a revolving credit fund for refugees will be operational later this year.

The fund will likely also be open to Ugandans: government guidelines state that around 30% of refugee assistance should help host communities. Under a new UN strategy, acknowledging the longevity of displacement, livelihoods programmes will target refugees and Ugandans together, and some basic services will be merged. Water services in Nakivale will be handed to the district authority, eventually requiring refugees to pay for water just as locals do. Similarly, the UNHCR will hand over responsibility of the only secondary school in the area to the government. And there’s even a suggestion of recruiting refugees into public service jobs, currently only open to Ugandans.

Refugees from Burundi have been given tree seedlings to plant in Rubondo village, in Nakivale. Photograph: Anna Patton

Meanwhile, more refugees may travel to Uganda, especially if neighbouring Kenya keeps its promise to close its camps. Ugandans are “quite tolerant” for now, says Charity Ahumuza, a programme manager at the Refugee Law Project at Makerere University, Kampala. “But people will think: ‘If Kenya can say no, why should Uganda be generous?’” Her organisation is planning education activities this year to ensure public attitudes remain favourable.

Attitudes in Europe, which wants to negotiate deals with some African countries to prevent migration outside the continent, could also affect how refugees are treated in Uganda. As Ahumuza notes, pushback from Europe “will definitely have an impact on how communities who’ve been hosting refugees will act”.

Uganda may now look to rich countries to take on more responsibility. But, while the size of plots given to refugees has already been halved, the government has not indicated that it will limit its open door policy, and a newly-opened settlement area with room for up to 100,000 people is already welcoming refugees. “Where else in the region would they go?” asks Douglas Asiimwe, assistant commissioner for refugees. Many citizens — some of whom have been refugees themselves — share this view, providing some of the land allocated to newcomers.

Even if the welcome continues, rising numbers of newcomers, severe funding shortages and further integration of assistance within national structures may encourage more realistic expectations among refugees. Jimmy Maguru, a project manager at Nsamizi, says Nakivale residents are taking more responsibility for their future than ever before — partly thanks to livelihoods projects, but also because “people are hearing that plot sizes are likely to get smaller”.

Expectations of resettlement, though, may need to be addressed. Many hope for a future in North America or Europe — yet the UNHCR’s resettlement target for Nakivale, home to more than 110,000 refugees, is only around 700 this year.

“People think the only one solution is resettlement [and that you’re a] failure if you don’t to go” says Michael, who is planning new community projects in Nakivale. “I want them to know they can start their life here.”